Macy McDonald is the recipient of the Sara Randall Memorial English Scholarship for 2013-14 at East Central University. McDonald, an English major with a minor in sociology, graduated from Vanoss High School and is a member of ECU’s Presidential Leadership Class. She also is a member of Alpha Chi, Sigma Tau Delta and ECU Honors Program. McDonald was a Brad Henry Scholar for 2012-13. Randall was a junior at ECU majoring in English when she passed away. Her parents, Clifford and Janis Randall, have just completed the endowment of this scholarship in Sara’s memory.

A team of East Central University computer science students and alumni placed third overall in the KIPR (KISS Institute for Practical Robotics) Autonomous Aerial Robotics Tournament held recently in Norman.

The international tournament was part of the 2013 Global Conference on Educational Robotics. The ECU team also received a judges’ choice award for their use of external indicators to aid in navigating the course in the game called ‘Loop the Hoops’.

Three new people will be inducted into the Gene and Evelyn Keefer Educator’s Hall of Fame at East Central University on Tuesday, July 9, at 10 a.m. inside the Danley Hall Atrium.

Dr. Pam Deering, Dr. Tim Green and Jackie ‘Tex’ Rollins are the three to be formally enshrined.

The Educators Hall of Fame is sponsored by Janice Diamond and Paul Keefer, the children of Gene and Evelyn Keefer, to recognize ECU-prepared educators at any level who have made a significant contribution to the field of education.

Byng teacher and East Central University graduate Deborah Cornelison – along with four educators whose experience combines with hers to total 116 years– was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame in June.

“I was honored by the selection,” Cornelison said. “The induction was very humbling. Thousands and thousands of teachers deserve recognition. Those of us who have been selected for this honor feel like we are representing them.”

The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education approved an average 5.7 percent increase to tuition and mandatory fees for its regional universities.

Higher education officials cited record enrollments, increased operational costs and prior years of reduced state appropriations as contributing factors to tuition increases.

In fact, East Central University will receive less than a 1 percent increase from state funding appropriations this year. In order to continue to offer ECU students more, a 5.8 percent increase in tuition and mandatory fees will be added.

A new hobby has consumed East Central University’s Dr. Mark Micozzi and it has led to an amazing and exciting discovery as he spends the summer in the Oklahoma Panhandle.

Dabbling in paleontology for the first time in his life, Micozzi, a professor in ECU’s Department of Cartography and Geography, recently found a dinosaur tooth near Kenton, Okla., in the far northwestern corner of the panhandle.

One-hundred percent of East Central University’s elementary education students had passing grades on the Oklahoma General Education Test and Oklahoma Reading Test, according to the Commission on Teacher Preparation’s 2011-12 Annual Report.

East Central University's mission is to foster a learning environment in which students, faculty, staff, and community
interact to educate students for life in a rapidly changing and culturally diverse society. Within its service area,
East Central University provides leadership for economic development and cultural enhancement.